By: Alexa LoSchiavo
There is an eclipse tomorrow for everyone who’s curious. This poem is a depiction of how I felt the first time I saw a comet moving through the sky. I hope that some readers will get the chance to see the eclipse this Saturday and connect to this feeling of seeing the beauty and span of the universe that is captured in this poem.
The comet
Layered turquoise shillings scaling up the wall
Twisted oaks hang from above
Shadowing the porch light
We’re coming in from the ocean
Hair swept;
Eyes light
The universe threw fire across the night sky
So brief it could almost be missed
As if to say do not forget me
The universe went again
Throwing blue fiery forces across the scattered galaxy
Does the universe know we are looking?
One illustrious rock hurtling through space
We are working on etching this memory into the concaves of our brains
How to hold onto something so fast and so bright?
So expansive and surprising
Too big to hold and too small to see
Multitudes sprinting across the stars
Spinning through time
As we give names to the clouds
Nothing so vast can be named
Nothing so beautiful can be summed by one thing
Nothing and everything exuding all at once,
Spinning through light
And stopping as quickly as it starts
A brief ring of light
Gone now
But forever in my mind
Til forever runs out.
I wrote this poem after seeing a comet for the first time on the beach. I used imagery to describe it accurately, but I also used personification of the universe to describe the span and power it holds. I really wanted to remember the moment, so I wrote it down. However, I wanted to point out the futility of even writing it down because, though the moment can somewhat be captured, it can never be fully felt in the same way or experienced again, except in the present moment.